[leebase]

All across the net I see stories declaring doom and gloom over Apple's recent textbook initiatives. Among the initiatives is a free tool Apple has created that greatly assists in the creating of interactive text books for the iPad.

For the iPad being the "OMG, the Horror!" aspect. It's really much ado about nothing. When you submit a manuscript to Amazon's publishing web tool....it creates a kindle book for you. It does not ALSO spit out an epub so that you can publish at Barnes and Noble or Apple.

You don't have to use iBooks Author to create a text book. You can use Adobe In Design (the market leader tool) or even the open source Sigil. You can even use Apple's Pages tool to create epub text books. In fact, all the ways that folks could create ebook versions of textbooks they day before Apple's announcement, are still there. Apple has ADDED to the option of choices, not taken any away.

Prior to iBooks Author and the new ibooks document type (proprietary extension of epub)...you had to create an application...know computer programming or hire it done...in order to create an interactive book like Elements or Alice in Wonderland (two landmark and highly regarded new generation interactive books).

Those apps don't run on anything but iPads...just like windows programs don't run on linux and MacIntosh apps don't run on windows.

These iBook text books are going to only work on iPads. Just like iOS apps only work on iPads (and iPhones and iPod Touches) and Android apps only work on Android tablets and phones. There really is nothing new here....nothing that's taking away from the plethora of options people already had.

But now, Apple has ADDED a nice and relatively easy way for textbook authors to create interactive textbooks without needing to be a programmer or hire a programmer. If one wants to publish such a textbook on the iPad, it's very likely going to be the tool of choice.

If one wants to create the same type of interactive textbook that runs on a Kindle Fire or a Motorola Xoom....they can. If they can program or hire a programmer. Same situation as the day before Apple released their products.

If one wants to forgo the interactive textbook and publish ePub...you still can. It won't work on a kindle because the kindle doesn't support ePub. Same as before Apple released it's latest tools.

If you want to publish an electronic book on multiple different platforms....you have SAME job to do the day after Apple's announcement as they day before. Sounds like a market ripe for someone to write a cross platform solution.

Apple didn't write a cross platform solution, and why is that a bad thing? Apple is in the business of selling iPad's, not making it easier to create products to run on Android. The only thing Apple has done is make it a LOT easier to create really cool text books....and to sell them...on iPad's.

If that makes it difficult for the competition to...you know...compete, well, that's why it's called COMPETITION.

Lee